There is a project that I follow even if I live now at the other side of the Pacific. It is… or it was… or it will be one day, one of the most ambitious (and game changer) infrastructure projects in the world. It was also meant to be a PPP. California High-Speed Rail The idea sounded great: Connect major cities. Reduce emissions. Transform mobility. On paper, it had everything. In reality… it had a problem. The scope was never stable… and still it’s not. Routes changed. Stations moved....
1 day ago • 1 min read
Not corruption. Not politics. Just… incompetence. A real project. $800M. In LatAm… No more details, as in this distribution list, there are too many people living in that country… Here you are the 4 red flags that would have helped you to smell blood miles away. First red flag: They didn’t understand their own project. I’m not exaggerating. They launched the RFP with: Misaligned traffic studies Outdated geotech data A design that didn’t match the environmental permits Second: They outsourced...
2 days ago • 1 min read
Selling used stuff online is hard work. A lottery. A candy box. I tried it once. In less than 5 minutes, I got a message. 30 seconds later, I knew it was a scam. Emoticons. Broken grammar. Asking for my number immediately… when the platform literally tells you not to. Block the user. Close the chat. And then do what a good SPV CEO does… Subcontract. Pass it to someone who knows better. Create the right incentives. Supervise. Manage issues. Etc. Life is just another PPP. Your standards say a...
3 days ago • 1 min read
The pattern... Different country. Different name. Same movie. A “strategic” project. Big announcements. Strong political backing. Aggressive bids. Beautiful financial models. Everyone smiling at financial close. And then… After bonuses paid and elections won… Reality. Costs go up. Time disappears. Risks… yes, those that were “managed” and “transferred to the party better able to deal with”, start showing up. Suddenly: - contracts are “reinterpreted” - assumptions were “too optimistic” -...
4 days ago • 1 min read
When people talk about successful projects, these are the usual suspects: The deal was clear from day one Risks were allocated… not hidden The wrong bidders didn’t show up Time was respected Decisions were made early The contract was readable Banks believed the story Equity had skin in the game The public side knew what it wanted Advisors added value (for once) Construction was not “optimistic” Problems were solved fast Ego was controlled Operations were considered from day one Someone owned...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Yesterday I heard: “I’m too old to change career.” C*jonudo. Look. Think of Bernie Marcus. He was 49 when he got fired from his executive role at a hardware retail chain. The 70s. No InfoJobs. No Trade Me. No LinkedIn. And I doubt he felt like photocopying his CV and knocking on doors. If you’ve been there… you know. So he sat down in a café with Arthur Blank and made a decision: He was going to destroy the people who had fired him. I like that. Vengeance is underrated fuel. Together, they...
6 days ago • 1 min read
Last weekend, New Zealand was hit by another cyclone. If you’re still sceptical about climate change…just look at the statistics. Or your insurance premium. But that’s for another day. This time, the damage was limited. Much less than the previous cyclones. And here it comes… “They exaggerated.” “It wasn’t that bad.” “We overprepared.” The usual. Short-term memory. Short-term thinking. The same people who forget that not long ago we had: warnings that were too soft impacts that were worse...
7 days ago • 1 min read
“Surely the English hate me, but the Scots love me… and that’s what matters.” — Diego Armando Maradona There’s an immortal lesson in that sentence. You’re not going to be popular defending PPPs. Pushing PPPs. Loving PPPs. Delivering PPPs. Or being the one in the room who actually understands them. And that’s fine. Because this isn’t about popularity. It’s about outcomes. Think of: the banks the equity providers the consultants …and yes, the taxpayer When PPPs are done right, they work. When...
8 days ago • 1 min read
“I’m a PPP freak.” That’s what I told a client last week. Then I killed the deal in 30 minutes. “But this is not a PPP project.” No model. No workshops. No 200-page reports. Just experience. Because after you’ve seen enough projects, the disasters, the political theatre, the “too good to be true” bids… you start seeing patterns. Fast. You don’t need months. You need clarity. 30 minutes is enough to know: if a project is bankable… or dead on arrival if the contract creates value… or prints...
9 days ago • 1 min read